FORUM:
Architecture and World History

World History through European Colonial Architecture

Pilar Maria Guerrieri

Today, in a world that
tends strongly towards globalization, it is ever more necessary to study world
history; world history meaning a complex interweaving of economic and
political balances and hegemonies. This essay will try to explain how world
history between the 16th and the beginning of
the 20th century may be told through the analysis of
European colonial architecture. In fact, Modern
Europe1 and its colonies marks the largest expansion
of a civilization
prior to the contemporary globalization
process.2 Thanks to its extent and its "classical" architecture, it gives us an Ariadne's
thread to follow in reconstructing a decisive moment in world history and to
better understand which were the reasons and the results of past encounters
between cultures often very different from one another.

The use of the expansion
of Western Civilization to track world history is properly suspect, as it can
easily fall victim to "Eurocentric" thinking, but this risk has not stopped
world historians from observing the impact of Europe's hold over the world's
economy, as evidenced by the map of Europe's dealings throughout the world
contained in Civilisation
matérielle, économie et capitalisme by the historian Fernand Braudel,
which serves to illustrate "Rise of the West" after 1500 c. e.3 Recent examinations of European
influence, which here we will consider from a strictly architectural point of
view, are well-aware of the pitfalls of cultural determinism (whether
Eurocentric, Afrocentric or Sinocentric)
and most exhibit due care
when considering broad Western political-economic-social processes such as the
"civilization" project,4 Europe's global commercial dealings in commodities (silk, spices, etc.), the spread
of Western Christianity, and the virtually world-wide presence of European
languages or words with Latin roots.

Unlike some of these processes,
architecture is a clearly identifiable factual datum that we can follow like a
trail through the course of Western expansionism and/or empire. In fact, it has often been used by ruling
powers as a recognizable manifestation of their power aimed at non-Western
peoples; all the more so when the colonial power seeks to leave an easily
identifiable sign of their presence in newly conquered territories. This is
true in the case of even less concrete situations, where by "colonization" we
mean not a physical event, like the founding of a city, but rather deep
cultural changes designed to promote the taste of one nation in favor of
another. This was the
case of ancient Greece on the coasts of Southern Italy, or England's
"classical" architectural program in the 1700's, Lord Wellesley's "building programme" in
India at the beginning of the 1800's, and Nazi pseudo-classical architecture in
the twentieth century. 5 Architecture and power have always been tightly connected.

The Emergence of the "Classical
Style"

Which architectural style did Europeans use to express their
expansionist designs? Up to the twentieth century, the choice tended to fall on
a "classical" language,6 that had
evolved since the times of ancient Greece, made up of columns, 7 Doric,
Ionic, and Corinthian capitals, pediments and moldings. The Classic Language of Architecture, which is also the title of a
book by John Summerson,8 has
become one of Europe's most typical formal elements and, somewhat, it is the
one that most legitimately may be defined an architectural language with a
"European connotation". Even though nobody really knows what the exact
definition of "classical" is in abstract terms, in concrete terms it implies a
series of clearly established elements. There are other architectural languages
typical of Europe, but none have achieved the unquestioned admiration of the
"classical".

Because of the great admiration it
generated as well as being so often chosen by the ruling powers in European
countries, tracing the origins, the spread and the decline of the classical
language in architecture is a way to understand how political equilibriums
moved across the world and study their history. The connection
architecture-power-classicism is what enables us to construct a narrative, both
because it reflects intense exchanges and relationships that built up "Europe"
through time, and because through a comparative analysis it helps us learn of
what happened beyond the Mediterranean and the results that this "encounter"
has given. The decision of taking on a specifically "European and classicist"
point of view does not mean choosing to exclude other cultures or styles. In
fact, it actually implies the desire to recognize the independence of other
architectural and cultural realities. It also allows us to understand the
results that have been obtained by a specific comparison with European
"culture" since, as has already been mentioned, before the contemporary
globalization processes, it was the most widespread.

Classical Greek architecture was the
foundation of the "classical" language that we will analyze here. The origin of
Greek culture may be placed sometime around the second millennium BC, at the
same time as other cultures such as the Mesopotamian or Egyptian, the Chinese
or the Indian. What is most amazing in Greek civilization is the astonishing
speed of its architectural and artistic flourishing. In only a few centuries it
reached such a level of refinement and complexity that it became the
irreplaceable reference not only for all other ancient western cultures –
especially the Roman and the Etruscan ones – but also, as we shall see,
for some of the major European artistic and cultural movements in the following
centuries, such as the Renaissance (16th and 17th centuries) or Neoclassicism (second half of the 19th century).

Greek culture was
extremely different from other contemporary cultures not only because of its
strong artistic activity, but also in the vast colonial expansion that was
typical of the Greeks. It went well beyond the rocky lands of the Peloponnese,
carrying forth an expansion process based on the export of both city planning
and a model of social organization – the polis –,9 and of the structures and traits that we
consider "classical" par excellence, such as temples, statuary and orders. Though the Greeks without a doubt
brought several innovations to architecture and urban planning, among these one
in particular must be recalled because of the incredible role it has had in the
construction of the classical language: architectural orders. There were three orders: the Doric,
the Ionic and the Corinthian. Each of these has extremely precise formal
traits, but what they all have in common is the use of a series of proportional
relationships.10

With this
cultural environment and the artistic and architectonic formulae, the
foundations were set for the development and
the consolidation of the main elements of the classical language of architecture. Tracing
the expansion of the Greek colonies through stylistic features allows us to try
to understand how much this civilization influenced the conquered countries,
and if the results of this urban-architectural, but also social, economic and
cultural, colonialism were more or less deep.

Southern Italy, a.k.a. Magna Graecia, is maybe the colonized
territory in which the architectural principles that first took shape in Greece
were most established and adopted by the rising Roman Empire.11 The
architecture of Roman power and conquest, especially where it was most influential,
clearly recalled that of the Greeks. Equally imposing, the Roman Empire has
left traces of theatres, foundation towns and buildings in "classical" style
all the way to East Asia. Following the ruins of Roman settlements and
buildings, it is possible to measure the exact extent of the Empire, from the
Italian peninsula to the many Mediterranean territories and then beyond, to Syria. Tracing the expanse of the Roman Empire that continued
to grow steadily through its colonies, in fact, we may collect
information on what was happening in the East and measure the extent of its
contemporary, the Chinese Empire.

Roman architecture tends to be fairly
homogeneous stylistically. Though in many ways it manifests a different
conception of space compared to Greek architecture,12 it
certainly borrows several formal elements from it. The elements that are
most closely related to Greek culture probably are the classical orders and the
temples, for example the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus or the façade of the
Pantheon in Rome and the decorative elements of both buildings. Both in Greek
and in Roman times the classical language of architecture is used above all in
buildings with an official function. The Romans used it to decorate their
triumphal arches, theatres and arenas. Even in years less glorious than
Augustus', great importance was still given to the role of architecture. In
years such as those of the Germanic invasions or those in which the empire was split, between the
second century AD and 476, the Roman emperors Diocletian and Maxentius continue
promoting grandiose architectural works in Rome and in all the major cities of
the empire. Think, for example, of Diocletian's palace in Split from the third
century or Maxentius' basilica in Rome from the fourth century.

Greek and Roman architecture together are
what is known as the great "classical civilization." In both cases, dominating
power and the classical language of architecture are as one. 13 This
latter was, on the one hand, reinterpreted many times, even in very different
ways, up through the 20th Century, becoming a common ground in all
European countries. On the other hand, it was the most exported language and
the one that was most successfully employed in the colonization process between
the fifteenth and twentieth centuries.

Marcus Vitruvius Pollione, a Roman architect and writer from the second
half of the first century, is credited for having passed down a direct
testimony of the main traits of Greek and Roman architecture. He wrote a
fundamental treatise on building techniques and materials: the De Architectura. This is the only
ancient classical work that has come down to us and it is of great importance
to understand the basis on which the classical language of architecture rests.
The De Architectura was used widely
in Europe as a theoretical basis for all architects and treatise writers from
the Renaissance on, but is was also internationally important as a model and as
a source of inspiration for planning European colonial settlements in the New
World. Vitruvius's treatise had a fundamental role in the
colonies between the 16th and 19th centuries, both in the West and the East.
The laws of the Indies, created by Philip II for the building of
colonial cities in Mexico, are a perfect example being, according to many
scholars, based on "los conceptos ideales de Vitruvio" or the Indian
Vitruvius theorized in European Architecture in India 1750–1850 by Sten Nilsson.14

After the fall of the Roman Empire,
classical architecture underwent a stall. In the year 1000 c. e. throughout
Europe there was great ferment of innovation. The pressure of Germanic and Central
Asian populations had in fact been overcome and political stability, which
stimulates the development of architecture, had returned. The many European
architectural experiences between 1000 c. e. and the end of the fourteenth century are conventionally
classified as Romanesque (1000
– 1200 c. e.) and Gothic (1200–1400 c. e.). In some countries, especially in central northern Europe, they
continued into the following century and beyond, sometimes even being exported
to the colonies, as in the
case of the Gothic cloister in the Santo Domingo Convent in Oaxaca City, Mexico. "Romanesque" and "Gothic", though, never became real colonial
styles because, even though they had strongly characterized European history,
they never actually had as much success as the "classical" style. And it is
because of this deficiency that they could not be chosen to tell the history of
the world. The physical classical elements of ancient Greek and Roman
architecture never completely disappeared. In Post Classical times we may find
fragments of them used to erect new buildings. For example, the columns or
capitals of a Roman arena may be used to build a church,15 and
where there are symbols contrary to Christian ideology, they were turned upside
down, denying their symbolic value. Let's just say that from the fall of the
Roman Empire to the Renaissance, even though there was this re-use of classical
elements visible to this day, basically the classical language of architecture
was silent.

Italian men of culture began to have a
serious interest in Greek and Roman classical culture in the fifteenth and
sixteenth century. They felt they were directly tied to that great civilization
of which they believed they were the heirs, and they started to consider that
"middle age" a barbaric and decadent period. An enthusiastic study of ancient
classics following philological criteria is the humanistic method, searching a
past cleansed of Medieval falsification for models of a moral conduct capable
of regenerating contemporary culture: this is why this period is called the
Renaissance. Thus the Renaissance is the rebirth of the classical world, and
one of the distinctive traits of this period is a strong passion and interest
for any cultural aspect of the ancient world. This new discovery of the
classical world and Vitruvius' treatise are the bases for a new Renaissance
certainty that derives from the theory of proportion applied to architecture.
Following this example, many other treatises were written, such as Leon
Battista Alberti's or the illustrated ones by Serlio, Vignola and Palladio, in
which the subject matter is always the ancient classical Greek and Roman period.16 Florence in particular and Italy in general were the cradle of the new
Renaissance architecture, which then spread throughout Europe.

As has always happened in the case of
geographical proximity, there was a strong exchange of information and a subsequent
synthesis of tastes between European countries, styles crossed borders and were
borrowed from neighboring countries, both in art and architecture. In fact, it
was the many easy exchanges inside the continent that made it possible for
powerful men, such as monarchs and rich land owners, to take inspiration from
the beauties that flourished in Italy. We cannot speak of this period as an
actual "colonization" of Europe on Italy's part. It was more a sophisticated
cultural colonization tied to the admiration of ancient cultures. The
Renaissance was only the beginning of this recovery of "classical" principles,
because the classical language was adopted, without any major interruptions,
many times over until its moment of great crisis in the twentieth century. The
admiration felt by all European countries for Greek and Roman culture is such
that a process was triggered in which the classical language of architecture
became a model to imitate and promote. The frequent exchanges between countries
on public occasions such as the many international fairs made partaking in
other cultures easier and started a sort of common, shared cultural evolution
process. Gradually in Europe, thanks to this assimilation process of
architectural elements of Greek and Roman origin, a consistent part of what
Werner Oechslin calls a language of "European connotation".17

Along with this cultural ferment, the Renaissance
period is also marked by the beginning of an incredible economic growth and is
the origin of the colonial expansion of European countries.18 Countries such as France, England, Spain, Portugal and Holland felt the need to
go beyond their territorial boundaries (this need was felt also by other
countries such as Germany, Belgium and Italy but in more recent times, in the
eighteenth and nineteenth century, and to a lesser degree).19 At the
beginning of the modern era, Europe was surely inferior to China as far as
technology goes. Europe's subordinate role on a worldwide scale, though, soon
changed, and Europe found itself playing a leading role. The "Rise of the West" went along with colonial
conquering and dominion in different forms and in increasingly vaster areas.
The colonization process begins with the geographical discoveries at the end of
the fifteenth century and reaches its highest peak in the nineteenth century.
These discoveries and the territorial conquests of the European powers are at the
base of an unprecedented development of world trade. Over a few centuries
Europe became the richest continent in the world and the new political and
financial center.20

The Classical Style and Colonialism

The history of colonial dominion involves
Europe but mainly concerns two areas of influence: the Far East and the
Americas. Though the European exploration of the Ocean began earlier, it was
only in the 15th century that it became a regular activity as some
of the great national European kingdoms were established and strengthened.
There are two main phases in this process according to which European powers
held the reins of world commerce. In the first phase, between 1500 and 1600,
Portugal and Spain, the first European countries to sail the oceanic routes,
maintained the lead role.21 In the
second phase, from 1600 and 1700, the Iberian regions lost some of their
importance in world commerce, their oceanic preponderance being openly
challenged by Northern States.

If
at first the desire of expansion was motivated solely by commerce,22 at the
end of the 18th century it turned into the impulse to actually
dominate foreign territory politically.23 The
greatest architectural production flourished exactly in this "politicized"
colonial spirit. The competition to control the seas and trade became harsher
and harsher, and between the 17th and 18th centuries this
lead to redefinitions of the hierarchy of economical and commercial powers:
France and, even more so, England, prevailing over Holland, Spain and Portugal.

The new hierarchy in international trade
pitted France and England against each other. The conflict, won by England by a
long measure, lasted seven years, and, more importantly, it was a
war fought not only in Europe, but also in the colonies – Canada, the West
Indies, the Mediterranean, the Philippines and India. This is the novelty in European political affairs in the
sixteen and seventeen hundreds: the role of the colonies in power clashes,
which gave these a new dimension no longer limited just to Europe. Gradually,
in these evolutions commercial competition turns into a power clash24 and
also the settlements are involved in this change and become more real, structured
political manifestos. 25

As with the Greeks and Romans, it is
possible to trace the Europeans' movements throughout the world by following
and observing the architecture of their colonies. In most of the colonies, we
again find at a formal and stylistic level the flourishing of elements of that
classical language of architecture that was typical of the Renaissance, the
Baroque and the Neoclassical, and that had developed and continued to be
extremely successful in Europe. In fact, Renaissance
palaces, Palladian villas, Baroque churches, Neoclassical hotels and stations,
Greek Revival style temples and pediments from Greek temples applied to public
and private buildings can be found all across the world, from Brazil to Africa,
India, Indonesia, China and Australia, wherever European "civilization"
arrived. Even in places where colonial architecture is no longer fully
recognizable, having been subject to renovation processes or having fallen
victim to decay, there are still paintings and historical photographs that
still testify their past existence. This is for example the case in the Chinese
city of Macao where, though all that is left to this date of the Portuguese
colonial period is the majestic façade of San Paolo, the Baroque cathedral, the
once typical westernized face of its seafront is perfectly
visible in historical photographs.26

It wouldn't be possible to analyze in
detail in this brief essay all the examples of Renaissance, Baroque and
Neoclassical architecture spread across all the countries colonized by the
Europeans, but it is possible to point out the concreteness, the extent and the
complexity of this phenomenon. We could try to outline how in certain
geographical regions or, more specifically, some colonizers made precise
choices concerning the "classical style" that was to be adopted in the
colonies, but, as it is not a linear phenomena and being the period we have
taken into consideration very long, there would be the risk of incurring in crude
generalizations. For example, in South America there was surely a strong
Baroque influence, but saying this was the only "classical" style used by the
Spanish colonizers would be a mistake.

Let's take Mexico for example: in the 17th
and 18th centuries the Baroque style was surely very widespread,
especially where religious buildings are concerned, such as the Soledad church
in Oaxaca or the Santa Prisca church in Taxco, the cathedrals like San José in
Tlaxcala or the Santiago cathedral in Tianguistenco and many many more, spread
all across the Nueva España territory.27 Though it is true to a certain extent that "in architecture the international diffusion
of the Baroque style was much more rapid than the Renaissance", 28 it would be inaccurate not to mention some important cases of "Renaissance"
inspiration, such as the important Albertian project in Mexico City
commissioned by the first Viceroy of Mexico, Antonio de Mendoza,29 or all the Herrerian style works that were common in the 17th century – a
style the name of which come from Juan de Herrera, the architect chosen by
Philip II to design the Monasterio de El Escorial. Furthermore in Nueva España,
besides the Baroque and the Renaissance,
some significant examples of Neoclassical architecture may be found. In
particular I am referring to those buildings that began to be popular from the
end of the XVIII century, when the newly established Academy of San Carlos,
with the help of Jéronimo
Antonio Gil, began to give lessons on the "Neoclassical way of seeing";30 amongst the most important examples, the House of the Conde Rul in Guanajuato, the
building for the School of Mines31 and the Palacio de la Minerìa32 in Mexico City.

Remaining in Nueva España, there are many other
examples of classical architecture. One is the square in Spanish Town in
Jamaica, West Indies, from the second half of the 18th century, in
which the entrances of two of the buildings that enclose the Plaza Mayor are set
off by a Palladian pediment with columns. There is also, in the same town, the
imposing Ionic colonnade of the Rodney Memorial. We may find the same classical
architectural elements in other parts of the Spanish Caribbean, such as the
houses in Puerto Rico – Fernando Rivera's in San Germán or the Rodríguez
Cebrero House in San Sebastián.33 Spanish colonial architecture in Guatemala is also extremely interesting, an
example for all, the marvelous and complex baroque Spanish-American
architecture in Antigua, a city founded by the Spaniards in 1543, today UNESCO
World Heritage site.

Other Spanish
Viceroyalties present significant classical architectures, such as the
Viceroyalties of Peru and Nueva Granada. In the first case, for example, there
are the extraordinary Corinthian loggias in the San Francisco and La Compañía convents in Cuzco, or, in the same town, the exemplar
Renaissance façades such as the one at
the Old Jesuit School from the 18th century. Other clearly Albertian-inspired
architectures are to be found in Lima, in churches such as the Sagrario and San
Pedro. As far as the Viceroyalty of Granada goes, we find the classical
influence openly declared, again in relation to religious buildings, in the
capital Quito in monasteries such as San Francisco, San Augustín or De La Merced.34

Still in South America, we find the same
variety in the use of classical styles even in Portuguese Brazil, where the austere
classical Salvador cathedral in Salvador
de Bahia or the façade of S. Cruz dos Militares in Rio De Janeiro, 35 directly inspired by Vignola's Chiesa del Gesù in Rome, go along with the
sinuous shapes of the Nossa Senhora do Pilar church in Ouro Preto.36

To examine in depth and
better understand the colonial classical architecture of Latin America it is
also important to read South American Colonial Art and Architecture,
by Damián Bayón and Murillo Marx. This
text makes tracing classical architecture through Latin America possible and is
also useful to focus on its contradictory aspects.

Architectures with a "European
connotation" may also be found in British North America, both in the United
States and in Canada. It seems that British colonists never had a special
preference for Baroque,37 but they were certainly just as inspired by the Italian masters of the
classical style as the Spanish and the Portuguese. The 1730's Sabine Hall in
Virginia, 38 with its Doric arcaded
entrance surmounted by a pediment, shows that architecture inspired by the Italian
master from Vicenza, Andrea Palladio's style was present well before both the
Declaration of Independence and the newly elected president Thomas Jefferson's
architectural plan at the close of the century.39 Even in Nova Scotia we may find other meaningful examples of "classical style",
such as Martock's Neoclassical buildings near Windsor in 1790, the Province
House in Halifax from 1811 or the Colonial Building in St. John, Newfoundland,
from 1850.40

In India for example classical
architecture still has a lead role. The city of Goa, which was the Portuguese
main port in Asia from the 16th century on, has actually been called La Rome de l'Orient.41 Even the English took inspiration from Italy when building in the East: at the
end of 1700 Lord Wellesley, with his Palladian "Building Programme" in
Calcutta, on one hand was trying to construct a new and strong "classical"
image for the East India Company to
frighten and fascinate the local populations; on the other, by using the Palladian style, he found an extremely
effective way of opposing the Baroque used by the French, for example
in the cities of Chardanagore and Pondicherry.42 Lord Wellesley was the first to fight for the building of the famous Government House in Calcutta,43 identical to the drawings of Ottavio Bertotti Scamozzi's Renaissance-style
Villa Mocenigo, and the one who began a new architectural fashion in India
based on the Greek-Roman
model. From this moment on, in fact, pediments and Doric columns appear all
across the Indian subcontinent, from Barrackpore with the Greek Revival project
of The Temple of Fame, all the way to Bombay (now Mumbai), with the powerful
Doric arcade of the Town Hall. 44 Both of these buildings date back to the first half of the 19th century.

Though in China we cannot
speak of a European influence in terms of actual colonialism, the relationship
with the West having always been tied to land grants in the coastal regions for
commercial purposes, here, too, we find the classical language of architecture,
brought by the Portuguese, the French and the British. In fact there are traces
of classical style at the port in Macao, but also on the Shamian Island and in
the historical 13 Hongs district in Guangzhou (known historically as Canton).
Possibly the most striking example of architecture with a "European
connotation" is the Bund in Shanghai, where, on the Huangpu river, a compact
front of Renaissance buildings, decorated with columns and classical orders,
today confronts the shiny modern skyscrapers of Pudong.45

We could continue with an infinite list of
Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical architectures spread from West to East:
from Bombay's eastern gate, to Tokyo (Japan),46 and then to Sidney,
Melbourne, Brisbane in Australia,47 all the way to Saigon and Hanoi in Vietnam, 48 and Colombo in Sri Lanka, in Indonesia, in French Africa (Senegal, Ghana,
Nigeria) or Dutch Africa (Cape Town).49 The classical language of architecture, spread across the world, is used in
many different types of buildings: public buildings, such as town halls or
court houses, but also schools and hospitals; religious buildings, constructed
by the Church to pursue its world-evangelization project; decorated foreigners'
hotels and magnificent private villas.

In this sense it may be somewhat
interesting to take a look at the attempt made in the volume La villa coloniale [The Colonial Villa] to find a
transversal connection between various colonial nations throughout the world through
the model of the residential villa,50 which was used in
Italy beginning in the 16th century. The images in the text clearly show how,
notwithstanding the differences between countries, the use of the classical
language of architecture was a constant. Classical Vitruvian orders are both in
the Rose Hall Great House near Montego Bay in Northern Jamaica, and in the
ethereal neoclassical façade of a colonial residence in Lahore, Pakistan, and
in parts of the decoration of the Franschhoek villa in the Dutch Cape Colony,
but also in the Renaissance villa in the residential district in Penang near
Singapore, and they embellish the small villa in the center of Saint Denis in
the southern area of the French island
of Reunion.

Each one of the areas colonized by
Europeans shows an extremely different use of the classical language, depending
on which country, Spain, England, France or Portugal, colonized them, but
at the same time it also shows a more complex and contradictory set of versions
and declinations of the classical elements depending on how strong the occupied territory was politically,
economically and artistically. Even though the classical elements of
architecture can indeed be followed to locate the areas of influence of
European colonization, the "tracks" aren't always "pure", sometimes they show a
strong hybridization.51

The mestizo architecture in Latin America is an example of this, as is
the Church of La Compagnia of
Arequipa in Perù, where local symbols and decorations are blended with the
European classical language of architecture.52 The Capilla
abierta de Tlalmanalco is another case of great interest in Mexico: here we
see a blending of traditional Mexican open-air churches and the use of
classical orders in the apse, the only built area of the church. A similar important example of architectural
compromise may also be found in the South Asia, when the British colonists in
India decided, from the second half of the 19th century, hoping to find a
political agreement, to adopt an Indosaracenic
style. In this sense, Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker's project in New
Delhi is exemplary, as it
attempts to mix round arches, columns and capitals with ogee arches, chattris, stuppa and exotic animals.53 Only a more in depth analysis of a single case study would actually be of help
to understand,
in presence of the same quantity of classical traces, where to find the fine
line between the instances in which there was simply a transplant of capitals,
columns and pediments, and where instead there was a profound process of
context assimilation.

Furthermore, we should
always verify whether we are dealing with a case in which European colonial
architecture is just a manifestation of a classical taste, or if, instead, it
is a more aware process of understanding and applying classical principles.
While we may find classical elements used in the most imaginative ways from
Brazil to China, the Spanish and the Portuguese, though they favored the
Baroque style, seem to have integrated better with the colonized peoples, creating
actual mestizo elites;54 the British, instead, had much stronger principles of separation from the
indigenous populations.55 We may venture the assumption that the former colonized the world with cities
that were actual ideological manifestos,56 whereas the latter manifested their ideology otherwise, adopting an
architecture that is always rich in highly modern elements.

Take the
"ideal cities" planned by Philip II's Ordenanza in Nueva España, such as
Mexico City, or the structure of the British colonial cities based on the
relationship of separateness between Civil Lines, Cantonments and the
historical city center,57 as in
the Indian cities of Madras, Calcutta or Delhi. The motherland's tendency to perceive
local tradition and British modernity as antithetical and Great Britain's
attempt to impose itself on the local populace as instructor of the principles
of "modernity" had a fundamental role in the development of British colonies.
In most cases, in fact, British colonization brought with it processes of
technological and engineering innovation, such as new railway yards,58 electric connections, and radical hygienic and functional reforms, often at the
price of drastic demolitions of the historical city centers.

The
Global Legacy of the Classical Language of Architecture in the service of European
Colonialism

A last interesting aspect we cannot avoid
taking into consideration, and that makes the analysis of the spreading of the
classical language of architecture in different parts of the world even more
complicated, is the different way in which each former colony has, after having
obtained its independence, accepted or refused the classical colonial styles
imported by Europeans. In fact, sometimes European styles have been so
perfectly assimilated by the colonized nations that they become the symbol also
of the independent nation. Such is
the case with the United States, where Palladian motifs became national symbols
with Thomas Jefferson. Other times there is a total refusal and European styles
will never be used again after the liberation. This happened in India, where
after 1947, year of its independence from Great Britain, not a single Doric
column was built. To reflect on Western
Europe's failure to conquer indigenous tastes, it would be interesting to
try to measure to what extent and in what way in other ex-colonies throughout
the world there was (or was not) the assimilation of the classical architectural
style that swept over them between the 16th and 20th centuries.

Thus, the spread of the classical language
of architecture in the modern world is a complex affair, made up of power
architectures, complicated hybrids, strong contradictions, assimilations and
refusals. Through the centuries, the classical language of architecture has
contributed to build a European identity first, and then, having reached almost
all corners of the globe in the years of the Western European's colonies, it
becomes a decisive element both to reconstruct a dense history of international
exchanges, and to better understand what the encounter of very different
cultures can bring. The classical elements are so strong and clear a track to
follow through different countries throughout the world that, even where they
have failed to reach, they always give us the opportunity to reflect negatively,
such as on why Europe was not able to conquer such places, including why
indigenous peoples were able to resist it, wholly, or in part.

But, as we have seen, classical
architecture is not always found in its purest form. Sometimes it had to resort
to compromises, generating an extremely interesting hybrid architecture. A
thorough analysis of the classical language of architecture during the European
colonial period also allows us to study those cases in which it did not ignore
the local tradition, and this is one of the most interesting aspects of the
entire colonial period. It may be necessary to set up a course to piece
together the world history of the classical language of architecture, not only
because, thanks to its international traits, it allows us to comparatively
consider most countries in the world, but especially because it is an effective
instrument to deeply reflect about which power equilibriums there have been and
what consequences they have had across the world. These historical reconstruction studies
would give us the opportunity to develop a critical point of view on the risks
that economic, political and architectural imposition of one culture over
another can bring, and at the same time they would teach us to grasp the great
opportunities generated by the encounter of cultures very far from one another as
long as there is a profound acceptance of each other's diversity. Developing
such critical spirit is essential to face some crucial questions of our times,
such as the advent of globalization, in an aware and civil fashion.

Pilar Maria Guerrieri, graduated with full marks from the Politecnico of the Milan University
in July 2011, is an architect with a strong passion for the history of art and
architecture who is now working on a Ph.D. in Architectural design at the
Politecnico di Milano, with a proposed research project in collaboration with Indian
National Trust For Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) in Delhi, the resulting thesis being entitled "The
Cities of Delhi Between Colonialism and Post Colonialism (1911–1962)". pilar.guerrieri@gmail.com.

6 "Classicism, in one
guise or another, was absolutely the most significant architectural language in
Europe and America, and where there were western influences until 1945" quoted
from James Stevens Curl, Classical Architecture. an Introduction to its
Vocabulary and Essentials, with a Select Glossary of Terms (London: B.T.
Batsford LTD, 1992), 169.

7 "The
overwhelming majority of colonial buildings constructed in India before the
mid-nineteenth century were designed in classical style" quoted from "The
Classical Models" in G.H.R. Tillotson, The Tradition of Indian Architecture.
Continuity, Controversy and Change since 1850 (New Heaven and London: Yale
University Press, 1989), 3. This is one case study of India, we can find many other relevant
examples around the world.

15 This has
happened to many Italian churches, such as San Lorenzo in Milan, that was built
with building materials from the nearby Roman arena. See Maria Pia Rossignani,
"I materiali architettonici di reimpiego" in La basilica di San Lorenzo in
Milano, ed. Gian Alberto dell'Acqua (Cinisello Balsamo (MI): Banca Popolare
di Milano, 1985), 39–63.

17 Werner Oechslin, Palladianesimo. Teoria e Prassi, trans. Elena Filippi (Venezia: Arsenale editrice, 2006), 251. By saying "European Connotation" the historian
refers to the fact that Palladian elements are part of a common European
Architectural Language. This expression can be used not only for Palladian
elements but also for many other classical elements which distinguish Europe
from other countries.

25 "'The
splendours of the British Arms produced a sudden change in its aspects; the
bamboo roof suddenly vanished; the marble column took the place of brick walls;
princely mansions were erected by private individuals …' It was natural for
these assiduous observers of architecture to describe the change in such terms,
to see in the buildings, in the columns, symbols of commercial, military and political
progress." quoted from Sten Nilsson, European Architecture in India
1750–1850 (London: Faber and Faber, 1968), 163.

33 David Buisseret, Historic Architecture of the Caribbean (London-Kingston-Port of Spain: Heinemann, 1980), 84;
see also Jorge Rigau, Puerto Rico 1900.
Turn of the Century Architecture in the Hispanic Caribbean (New York:
Rizzoli, 1992).

34 See Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral in Damián
Bayón, Murillo Marx, History of South
American Colonial Art and Architecture. Spanish South America and Brazil, (New
York: Rizzoli International publications, INC., 1992).

36 Ibidem, 211; for an overview on classical
architecture in Brazil see also: Recollection of Old Brazil. Photographic images in Early
Postcards of the Oliveira Lima Library (Rio de Janeiro: Capivara, 2011).

37 The absence of the Baroque style in the British
colonies is not surprising since the homeland itself had a brief and
contradictory experience with this style. It is significant that Christopher
Wren (1632–1723), who is considered one of the most important among the few
exponents of British Baroque, is also placed in the opening page of the British
Neo-Palladian manifesto: the Vitruvius
Britannicus by Colen Cambell.

38 John Mead Howells,
Lost Examples of Colonial Architecture. Buildings that have disappeared or so
been altered as to be denaturated, with an introduction by Friske Kimball
(New York: Dover Publications, INC., 1963), plate 137.

42 Geraldine
Smith-Parr, Palladianism in India. Lord Wellesley's patronage of Charles
Wyatt at Calcutta. His plan for the College of Fort William in Bengal and for a
new Country Residence at Barrackpre (M.A degree, Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London 1984).

43 The Marquis Curzon of Kedleston, British Government in India. The Story of the Viceroy and Government
House, vol. I ( London-NewYork-Toronto-Melbourne: Cassel and Company LTD,
1925), 39–92

52 Marx, History
of South American Colonial Art and Architecture. Spanish South America and
Brazil, 155

53 Andreas Volwahsen, Imperial Delhi. The British Capital of the Indian Empire (Munich-Berlin-London-NewYork: Prestel, 2002)

54 James Early,
The Colonial Architecture of Mexico, 45; this page shows how normal it was
for the Spaniards to mix with the local population, so much that there were
actual mestizo élites.

55 "Neoclassical and beaux art influences in [Delhi]
architecture and design stood in sharp contrast to the existing practices […].
[British] identity was constructed in opposition to the one that was disdained
as 'traditional'" in Jyoti Hosagrahar, Indigenous
Modernities. Negotiating architecture and urbanism (London-NewYork:
Routledge, 2005), 79–80.

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